Tips for Single Travelers

Single travelers are often hit with a "single supplement" to the base price of accommodations. To avoid it, you can agree to room with other single travelers on the trip, or you can find a compatible roommate before you go from one of the many roommate-locator agencies.

Travel Buddies Singles Travel Club (tel. 800/998-9099; www.travelbuddiesworldwide.com), based in Canada, runs small, intimate, single-friendly group trips and will match you with a roommate free of charge. TravelChums (tel. 212/787-2621; www.travelchums.com) is an Internet-only travel-companion matching service with elements of an online personals-type site, hosted by the respected New York-based Shaw Guides travel service.

For more information, check out Eleanor Berman's classic Traveling Solo: Advice and Ideas for More Than 250 Great Vacations, 5th Edition (Globe Pequot), updated in 2005.